CAMILLUS, MarcusFurius, one of the most illustrious heroes of the Roman republic. He triumphed four times, was five times dictator, and was honoured with the appellation of Second Founder of Rome. When accused of having unfairly distributed the spoil taken at Veii, he anticipated judgment, and went voluntarily into exile at Ardea. But during his exile, instead of rejoicing at the devastation of Rome by the Gauls, he exerted himself to repel the enemy, and yet kept with the utmost strictness the sacred law of Rome, in refusing to accept the command, which was offered him by several private persons. The Romans, when besieged in the Capitol by the Gauls, created him dictator; and in this capacity he acted with so much bravery and conduct, that he entirely drove the enemy out of the territories of the commonwealth. He died of the plague in the eighty-first year of his age, 365 b.c. The famous story of Camillus and the schoolmaster belongs to the campaign against the Faliscans in 394. It is said that when Camillus appeared before Falerii, a schoolmaster attempted to betray the town by bringing into his camp the sons of some of the principal inhabitants of the place. Camillus, indignant at such baseness, ordered that the traitor should have his hands tied behind him, and be whipped into the town by his own scholars. It is said that the Faliscans were so affected by the generosity of the Roman general that they immediately surrendered (Livy; Plutarch). For a critical estimate of the amount of historic truth that lies under the somewhat legendary history of Camillus see Roman History.